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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27580514">country roads, take me home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lco123/pseuds/lco123'>lco123</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Isn't It Just So Pretty-verse [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teenage Bounty Hunters (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>5 Times, F/F, Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:01:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,629</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27580514</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lco123/pseuds/lco123</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>One is a small purple envelope with no mailing or return address, just April’s name written in loopy handwriting with a heart beside it. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>April’s belly warms. She’d recognize that writing anywhere, and the fact that there are no addresses means Sterling made a special trip to drop the letter off herself.</i>
</p><p>Five times Sterling welcomes April home. (AKA April deals with jet lag, and her feelings for Sterling Wesley.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>April Stevens/Sterling Wesley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Isn't It Just So Pretty-verse [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2038650</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>286</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>country roads, take me home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'll get back to my other fic soon, but this one literally woke me up in the middle of the night and wouldn't let my brain rest until I wrote it. (I think this is my subconscious's way of saying it misses traveling.) For clarity's sake, this is a separate universe from But I'm a Fire and I'll Keep Your Brittle Heart Warm.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Even at nine, April feels like returning from a trip should probably be relaxing, but that never seems to be the case at her house.</p><p>Daddy always finds something to be mad about right away—the gardeners didn’t trim the lawn adequately, the pool boy left the cover partially open and now there are leaves in the pool—and Mom starts whirling around immediately, sorting through clothes and answering calls, already planning for them to join the neighbors for dinner.</p><p>Maybe, April thinks, because she can’t stand to spend any more time just the three of them.</p><p>April always just wants to sleep after a trip, but she knows that wouldn’t be allowed, so she follows her parents’ lead. She trails Daddy as he marches through the house, getting more riled up, then starts unpacking right away like Mom tells her to, making piles of dirty clothes.</p><p>The one thing April kind of likes about returning home is looking through the mail. Carmen, their housekeeper, sorts the mail by person, so there’s rarely much for April to look at. A postcard or two, maybe a magazine if she’s lucky. Still, though, it makes April feel grown up and important to receive mail, and it gives her something to focus on other than her parents’ bickering.</p><p>After the three of them return from two weeks in Kentucky, visiting Daddy’s sister (who, at one point, loudly bemoaned the TV shows that she’s had to stop watching due to their “P.C. insistence on shoving gay characters down our throats”) and her family, April finds three pieces of mail in her pile.</p><p>One is a postcard from her grandparents, asking about her grades.</p><p>One is a flyer from her ballet studio, encouraging families to register early for next semester.</p><p>And one is a small purple envelope with no mailing or return address, just April’s name written in loopy handwriting with a heart beside it.</p><p>April’s belly warms. She’d recognize that writing anywhere, and the fact that there are no addresses means Sterling made a special trip to drop the letter off herself.</p><p>April tears the envelope open, finding a small card inside with a picture of a dog on the front and printed text that reads, “Being away from you is RUFF!” Inside, Sterling has written:</p><p>
  <em>Hi April! By the time you see this you’ll be home so…WELCOME HOME! I miss you and I can’t wait to hear about your trip! It isn’t the same here without you! Love, Sterling</em>
</p><p>April stares at the word “Love” for a long time. Sterling throws that word around a lot, which April can’t really understand, since in her household, no one ever says “love.”</p><p>It feels nice. And a little dangerous, like April is about to go on the down part of a rollercoaster.</p><p>She tucks the card into the far corner of her desk, and there it remains, preserved and precious, for years to come.</p><p>--</p><p>The summer before junior year, April’s parents send her to Maine for a week to visit her grandmother, who’s rented a house there. April knows her parents abhor the East Coast—either coast makes her dad start grumbling about the liberal elites taking over—but Grandma June is old and sick, and (more importantly, April suspects) her parents are having problems that they don’t want to air out in front of their daughter.</p><p>The week is long and boring, the only real highlight being the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean, and by the end of it April actually kind of misses Atlanta. Getting home is a debacle, though. Her flight is short, but it keeps getting delayed further and further due to a storm warning, and by the time Daddy is picking her up at ATL, April’s been awake for nearly twenty hours.</p><p>She’s so exhausted that she can’t sleep, tossing restlessly in her bed for most of the night. By seven AM she realizes that she’s starving, so she throws on some sweats, gets in her car and drives to Chick-fil-A, which she’s been craving this entire week.</p><p>April wolves her food down in the parking lot, grateful to be alone. But no sooner has she wadded her trash into a small ball then the nausea hits her, the lack of sleep and large amount of fast food kicking in at once.</p><p>April gets out of her car carefully and leans against the hood, trying to regulate her breathing. She lets her eyes drift closed for just a second before a familiar voice calls, “April?”</p><p>Of fucking course Sterling Wesley is here, in this moment when April looks her absolute worst and is probably seconds away from vomiting everywhere.</p><p>April opens her eyes, turning toward the sound of the voice without moving her body. Sterling is walking toward her, looking stupidly adorable in braids and a sundress.</p><p>“Sterling,” April replies curtly.</p><p>“It’s so early!” Sterling chirps, way too energetic for this hour. “Did you just get back from Maine?”</p><p>April narrows her eyes. “Last night. How did you know where I was?”</p><p>Sterling shrugs. “I remembered you mentioning it in Fellowship.”</p><p>“From our meeting at the end of last year?”</p><p>Sterling might blush a little, or it might be a trick of the morning light. “I remember weird details.”</p><p>April folds her arms. “Why are <em>you</em> here so early?”</p><p>“Oh!” Sterling chuckles, craning her neck back toward the Volt, which is parked several spots away. “Blair said she wanted breakfast, but it turned out she had planned a thing with Jennings.”</p><p>April squints at the car, barely making out the shape of two bodies moving together in the backseat.</p><p>As if she needed to be more nauseous. “Disgusting,” she remarks.</p><p>“They’re kind of cute together—”</p><p>“No, they’re not,” April declares.</p><p>Sterling gives her a funny look, and for half a second April thinks they both might start laughing. And then Sterling’s phone buzzes in her hand, and she gets that goofy expression on her face that must mean Luke sent her something inane.</p><p>“You should go,” April says, hearing her voice turn to stone.</p><p>Sterling’s forehead crinkles. “Oh, okay. Welcome home, by the way!”</p><p>“Whatever,” April replies. She faces forward again, not wanting to see the look of hurt that is surely on Sterling’s face.</p><p>April just manages to wait until Sterling is out of earshot before throwing up in the bushes.</p><p>--</p><p>April is pretty much on autopilot her entire trip back to Princeton. She knows that she boards a plane, and sits in an aisle seat, and retrieves her suitcase from baggage claim. She knows that a cab drives her to her off-campus apartment.</p><p>But honestly, she doesn’t really register anything after saying goodbye to Sterling in the middle of the Atlanta Airport.</p><p>April’s trying to be less hard on herself; she’s been working on it in therapy, which she started last year after her father was arrested again. And yet, it’s hard not to be furious at herself for wasting so much time. She and Sterling had a whole summer together, a whole summer spent in the same place, rekindling their friendship and dancing around this <em>thing </em>that’s been between them for literal years, and somehow they only got their act together a week before April had to leave.</p><p>To be fair, it was a good week. A pretty fucking amazing week, actually. It began with a night swim in April’s pool, the two of them warming up under the heat lamps afterwards, the air between them charged as ever. There were so many times over the course of that night when April thought it might happen, and finally, wrapped in a fluffy towel, sharing a lounge chair with Sterling, she got up the nerve to kiss her.</p><p>“Thank God,” Sterling sighed against her lips, and from there it was like a fuse was lit. They basically spent the rest of the week in April’s bed, years of pent up sexual tension and frustration releasing over the course of seven days.</p><p>Thank the Lord, April’s mom was out of town.</p><p>There were so many things April wanted to say during that week. <em>I love you</em> and <em>I’ve missed you</em> and <em>I don’t think I’ll ever feel this way about anybody else. </em>But she kept those thoughts to herself, grateful to have the option of kissing Sterling whenever she felt the words start to bubble up.</p><p>Sterling, as always, was more reckless. She stopped short of saying she loved April, but she named just about every other feeling, telling April over and over again how much she wanted her, how long she’d dreamt of this, how she couldn’t imagine ever going back.</p><p>And then suddenly the week was over. They held hands through the airport, and April was too sad about saying goodbye to Sterling to care if anyone looked at them. Sterling pressed a kiss to her hair, and April surprised them both by tilting her head up and kissing Sterling square on the mouth, right in the middle of the crowd. Sterling gasped into her mouth, kissing back without hesitation, and that was that.</p><p>Now, April slumps against the door of her apartment. She closes her eyes, feeling her throat get tight and scratchy as she thinks of Sterling’s gentle touch, her wide eyes, her easy laugh. Everything about Sterling is utterly enchanting, a lovely disruption to April’s carefully constructed reality. And that’s always been true, but now April doesn’t have to deny it anymore. How is she possibly expected to go back to normal again?</p><p>April pulls out her phone, sniffling as she types out a quick text to Sterling: <b>Just got in. Flight ok.</b><b></b></p><p>Sterling’s reply comes immediately: <b>so glad yr there safe! miss you already. &lt;3</b></p><p><b>Miss you too, </b>April types back, rubbing a tear off her cheek. <b>Exhausted. Heading to bed.</b><b></b></p><p><b>get some sleep bb, </b>Sterling replies. <b>welcome home</b><b></b></p><p><em>Home</em>. It’s funny, Princeton still doesn’t quite feel like home, yet. But April isn’t sure if Atlanta feels that way, either. Her house growing up has never been homey in the comforting, uncomplicated way April’s read about in books.</p><p>Well. Except for this last week. Except with Sterling.</p><p>For the first time, April realizes with a start, she felt like she was home.</p><p>--</p><p>In her junior year of college, April spends a semester abroad in the Netherlands.</p><p>It was Sterling who convinced her to go, pointing out that after graduation April would be heading straight to law school and from there, a bustling legal career. “You’re gonna be in such high demand, there’s no way you’ll be able to take vacations,” Sterling told her. “Except if you ever want to take me somewhere with beaches and museums and you in a bikini, I definitely won’t say no.”</p><p>So April goes, and it’s truly an experience she’ll never forget. Her view of Europe has always been somewhat skewed by her parents’ American patriotism, but she finds herself loving the Netherlands. The grandeur of it, the history, the culture. She feels like she’s walking through time, soaking up ancient artifacts. She tries to experience it as fully as she can, spending her free time taking long walks along the canals of Amsterdam, visiting every museum she can get to, even joining a bike tour.</p><p>She sends Sterling postcards from everywhere she visits, even though they’re texting constantly. Often, she pictures Sterling walking beside her, imagines her running commentary on various situations, the way her eyes might light up at a particular exhibit or especially delicious meal.</p><p>By the end of the semester, however, April misses so much about home. The food, the weather, the reliable customs, the lack of a language barrier, having her own car, even her mom. But, most of all, Sterling.</p><p>Sterling’s classes at Stanford end the same week as April’s trip, so April decides to fly straight to California. It’s a nearly twelve hour flight, not including the inevitable delays, and by the time April walks off the plane she’s basically delirious. Sterling made a “Welcome Home” sign, because of course she did, and the minute April sees both it and her, she bursts into tears.</p><p>Sterling doesn’t judge, of course, merely hugging April close, kissing her cheeks, and ushering her through the airport with assurance. She helps April locate her luggage, gets them to the parking lot, and it’s only when they’re sitting in the car together that April realizes Sterling is shaking.</p><p>Through the fog of her own exhaustion and sense of overwhelm, April puts a hand on Sterling’s arm. “You okay?”</p><p>Sterling turns to look at her, hands flexing against the steering wheel. “Yeah, I just—I missed you so much.” She rolls her eyes, which are starting to fill with tears. “This is <em>so</em> stupid, but I think a part of me wondered if you’d actually come back to me. Or if you’d, like, meet some fabulous, fancy European girl and get swept off your feet.”</p><p>April frowns. Sterling has always been so confident about their relationship, from the very beginning. It’s a little shocking to hear her voice concern.</p><p>“That would never happen,” April says emphatically. “Seriously, Sterl. You’re it for me.” She’s too tired and emotional to play coy, and she doesn’t really want to, anyway. If this time away has clarified anything, it’s how much she loves Sterling. Not that that was ever remotely in doubt.</p><p>Sterling’s expression brightens slightly. “Really?”</p><p>April laughs through her own tears. “Yes, you goofball. I’m wildly in love with you.”</p><p>“Wildly, huh?” Sterling waggles her eyebrows.</p><p>April shakes her head tiredly. “Sorry, babe. That’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I’m beat.”</p><p>Sterling nods, smoothing some of April’s hair back. “Of course. I just wanna cuddle you, if that’s okay.”</p><p>“The <em>most</em> okay,” April sighs, nuzzling against Sterling’s touch like a cat.</p><p>April starts crying again when they get back to Sterling’s apartment. Sterling’s gotten takeout from April’s favorite restaurant in Stanford and stocked the fridge with her other favorite foods, and on the dresser she’s laid out new pajamas, already washed so they smell like Sterling’s fabric softener. There’s a small vase of tulips on the nightstand by April’s side of the bed, and in front of it is a pulpy mystery novel. (April had mentioned at one point early in their relationship that her guilty pleasure for unwinding is reading crappy mysteries and seeing how quickly she can figure out who the killer is. Sterling, unsurprisingly, remembered.)</p><p>April drifts through the apartment like a weepy ghost, taking in every detail of Sterling’s thoughtfulness, each physical expression of her love for April. She finally makes her way back to Sterling, who’s standing in the kitchen, already dishing out food for them. When Sterling notices April’s tear-streaked face, she stops what she’s doing.</p><p>“Too much?” she asks gently.</p><p>April takes Sterling’s hands in hers, kissing the backs of them. “Not at all. You’re…” She shivers, unable to find the right words in this moment. “You’re so wonderful,” she settles on, which isn’t close to adequate.</p><p>Sterling presses a kiss to her jaw, soft and chaste, but promising more to come. “You’re pretty wonderful, yourself.”</p><p>April lets herself be pulled into Sterling’s chest, cradled in safety, in love. “Thank you,” she whispers, choking back a sob. “It’s really good to be home.”</p><p>--</p><p>Their whole trip back to Cambridge, Sterling can’t stop smiling. Even through several long car rides and a huge line at airport security and it seeming, for a good two hours, like the airline lost their luggage, Sterling is grinning ear-to-ear. April knows that if it were literally anyone else, she’d be well past annoyed. But she and Sterling just got <em>engaged</em>. And honestly, April’s a little smiley herself.</p><p>A big part of her wanted the proposal to be just for them. April’s had the ring for weeks, and she nearly considered asking Sterling in their apartment, or taking her to one of the nicer restaurants in town.</p><p>But she knows Sterling, better than she knows anyone at this point, and Sterling would want her family there. Not only that, but she’d want nostalgia. So April waited until they were in Atlanta, then enlisted Blair—yes, it startled them both—to help pull off what Sterling would later refer to as “the greatest proposal of all time.”</p><p>April will proudly state that she really outdid herself, planning an elaborate ten-stop scavenger hunt that traversed their entire relationship, ending where it began: in Ellen’s office at Willingham. (She wasn’t too surprised when Ellen agreed to help; she’d always liked the two of them together.) There, April got down on one knee, and Sterling was already hyperventilating and shouting, “Yes, of course I’ll marry you!” before April could even get the words out.</p><p>Outside the school, Sterling’s family—including Bowser and Yolanda, newly pregnant—greeted them with balloons and champagne. April’s mom was there, too, at Blair’s urging, looking a bit stiff and awkward, but still smiling, genuinely, when she saw her grandmother’s ring on Sterling’s finger. The caravan traveled back to the Wesley house for a spirited, joyous dinner, the likes of which April never could have imagined, growing up. Blair gave an impromptu speech that made everyone laugh and cry within the span of five minutes.</p><p>When they finally got back to Sterling’s room, Sterling sank onto the bed and propped back on her arms, looking up at April with dark, pleading eyes, her legs spread so far apart that April had to nudge them closed a little in order to comfortably straddle Sterling’s hips. As if April might not get the hint about exactly what Sterling needed in that moment.</p><p>And God, if fifteen-year-old April could see her there, in Sterling Wesley’s childhood bedroom with Sterling—her <em>fiancée</em>—writhing beneath her, moaning against April’s palm while April’s other hand fucked her ruthlessly. April whispered words of filthy encouragement into Sterling’s ear: “You’re so good, baby, you feel amazing around my fingers. Look so pretty spread out for me. Gotta keep quiet or else everyone in this house will know how good I fuck you.”</p><p>Sterling came hard and fast, and the first thing she said after getting a handle on her breathing was, “I can’t believe I get to marry you.”</p><p>Easily one of the best nights of April’s life.</p><p>Now, it’s just her and Sterling, back in their half-packed apartment. April finishes law school next month and has already accepted an offer at a firm in Austin, while Sterling has some leadson freelance journalism jobs there. Part of April is sad to leave Cambridge—this has felt like her first real home with Sterling—but she’s incredibly excited for their life ahead.</p><p>After getting their bags in the door, April stands at the kitchen counter, somewhat absently sorting through mail, an old post-trip habit that she’s never shaken. Sterling snuggles up behind her, wrapping her arms around April’s waist and tucking her chin over April’s shoulder. April makes piles of bills and flyers, junk mail and personal letters, before finding a thick padded envelope with her name on it, addressed in Sterling’s handwriting.</p><p>“What’s this?” she asks, holding it up, not bothering to turn around.</p><p>“Um,” Sterling says behind her. “You should probably open that now.”</p><p>April does, overcome with curiosity. Inside the envelope is something hard, and when she reaches inside, she pulls out what appears to be an engagement ring.</p><p>April whirls around, nearly knocking Sterling over, who manages to settle herself into a kneeling position on the floor.</p><p>April’s forehead crinkles. “What are you doing?” she breathes.</p><p>Sterling smiles up at her, a bit impish, taking April’s left hand in hers. “I was gonna propose on our trip,” she says softly. “But then you had that whole beautiful thing planned, and I didn’t want to steal your thunder. So I kind of, um, stole this idea from <em>New Girl</em>, and sent the ring back to you. And I thought we could have a proposal at home, just us.”</p><p>“Sterling—”</p><p>Sterling holds a finger up. “Just wait, I have some stuff I wanna say. You are an incredible, intelligent, passionate, loving, strong, sparkling firecracker of a woman. And I feel so lucky to get to share a life with you. I love how we challenge each other, how we’ve grown together. I love how you see me, how you make me feel both so awake and so safe, all at the same time. I just love you so much, and I want to be with you forever.” She shrugs a little, and it’s so unbelievably cute that April snorts a laugh through her sudden tears. “Whaddya think?”</p><p>April dives into Sterling’s arms, knocking them both back against the wood floor, Sterling gasping out an, “Ooof!” that April swallows as she kisses her breathless. They’re both giggling, completely giddy, when they pull apart.</p><p>“Did you practice that speech?” April asks.</p><p>Sterling nods, running her fingers along the inside of April’s forearm. “With Blair. She played an eerily convincing you.”</p><p>“Ugh, that’s an image I never need to think about.” April shakes her head, impressed. “She had a lot of secrets to keep for us this week.”</p><p>“Which she will surely be reminding us of the next time we see her,” Sterling points out, pulling April back toward her. “I’ll take this reaction as a yes?”</p><p>“As if there was ever any doubt,” April whispers, before Sterling kisses her again.</p><p>Their home might be in boxes, the whole concept of it shifting and changing into something new. But it doesn’t matter. April knows in her bones a truth she spent way too long trying to outrun: that a house or a place is not her home, but Sterling Wesley always, always will be.</p>
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